Frozen for Five Days; Damage and Accidents

As the whole country got frozen, much damage and accidents are reported such as frozen water gauges and trivial traffic accidents due to the icy road. The vegetable prices also soared because the shipping amount from production area decreased.

▽ Whole Country Frozen = The cold weather with the temperature under 10 degrees below zero centigrade has continued for four days throughout the country, and the Han River got frozen about a week earlier than an average year.The Korea Meteorological Administration reported that the coldest temperatures in the morning in Daegwallyeong plummeted to 19.2 degrees below zero centigrade, Chuncheon, -19.8; Cheongju, -17; Jeonju, -15.2; and Seoul, Daejeon -14.4, as the Siberia air mass lower than 40 degrees below zero centigrade stays in Korea Peninsula.

However, the KMA forecasted that the cold weather would subside after the peak in the afternoon on the 7th and the temperatures would be recovered an average level so the temperature in Seoul would be 6 degrees below zero centigrade lowest in the morning, 3 centigrade highest in the afternoon.

▽Damage from Cold Weather = As cold weather has continued, 5,593 water gauges got frozen and broken in Seoul from Friday to Monday morning. In addition, as the frozen snow made the roads icy, traffic accident occurred frequently. Also, many people fell on the icy road so the number of fractured patient in the hospitals in Seoul doubled on Monday.

As seven million fish on the fish farm died in Sinan, Youngkwang, Muan in South Cholla Province and greenhouses collapsed in Damyang, Naju in South Cholla Province, the amount of damage reaches 10 billion Won.

▽Soaring Prices of Vegetables = The prices of vegetables soared as the shipping amount decreased due to the damage on the agricultural production. On Monday, the prices of agricultural production such as vegetables and fruits went up 17.1% on average compared to those of Friday. Especially the vegetables susceptible to the cold weather went up 21.5%.

In particular, a 20kg-box of spring cabbage cost 17500 Won, 94.4% up from Friday (9000 Won). Dropwort price is 81.3% up; shepherd`s purse, 71.4%; spring onion, 76.8%; chive, 36%, Chinese cabbage, 26.9%; and lettuce, 23.1%.

The amount of vegetables took into the Garak-dong Agricultural Marine Products Wholesale Market also decreased sharply. 4995 tons of vegetables and fruits were took in on Saturday but 3891 ton on Monday, decreased 21.5%.

Tae-Hoon Lee Sun-Woo Kim jefflee@donga.com sublime@donga.com